ABSTRACT
Introduction Malaysia, formerly known as the Federation of Malaya, covers a land area of 329,847km2, neighbouring Singapore, Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia, all of whose economies have been growing intensely in the recent decades. Its two main regions, Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia, consist of 13 states and three federal territories: Wilayah Persekutuan, Putrajaya and Labuan. A total of 29.8 million people live in Malaysia, represented by Malays (67.4%), Chinese (24.6%), Indians (7.3%) and others (0.7%) (Department of Statistics Malaysia 2011). Although Malay is the country’s ocial language, English is widely used in daily life, especially in business communications, along with some Chinese and Indian dialects. Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy headed by the chief of state (the king) while the prime minister is the head of the ruling government.
